Noteworthy Collections

Historical Collections

Michael Angelo Flinn (1841-1924) was a prominent physician in Portland around the turn of the 20th century. He botanized in the Portland-Vancouver area and at Tygh Valley in Wasco County, mainly between 1905 and 1920. The PSU Herbarium contains about 1,700 specimens of flowering plants, mosses, and lichens collected by Flinn, thought to have been his personal herbarium.

Joseph Howell (1829-1912) and Thomas Jefferson Howell (1842-1912) were the first resident botanists in the Pacific Northwest, having emigrated from Missouri with their parents in 1850. Joseph collected flowering plants, mosses, and lichens in the region between about 1870 and 1910, and is credited with having discovered ten species new to science. The PSU Herbarium contains about 185 of his specimens, thought to have been half of his personal herbarium. Thomas Howell, Joseph's younger brother, collected plants between about 1875 and 1910. He devoted his life to botany and became the best-known regional botanist in his day. Against all odds, he self-published the Flora of Northwest America, the first technical guide to plants of the region. He discovered more than 50 species of plants new to science. About 100 of his specimens are in the PSU Herbarium. The genus Howellia and about 30 species bearing the epithet howellii were named in honor of these brothers. The PSU Herbarium contains 35 type specimens collected by the Howells.

Ruth Martin Hansen (1910-2003) worked with the US Forest Service in 1937 to landscape Timberline Lodge, was a founding member of the American Rhododendron Society in 1945, helped design Portland's Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, and was an early member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon. She also was an active member of the Portland Garden Club, and was on the first Board of Trustees of the Berry Botanic Garden. Between 1930 and about 1985, she collected flowering plants throughout the Pacific Northwest. The PSU Herbarium contains about 1,500 specimens collected by Hansen between 1930 and 1985 and about 1,500 specimens prepared by her to document the living collections of the Berry Botanic Garden.

Vern Marttala (1948-2015) BA in Chemistry, Reed College, MA from the New York Botanical Garden's cooperative program with the City University of New York. Vern was an authority on Romanzoffia and other elements of the flora of the Pacific Northwest. Through an agreement with Reed College, some of Vern's private herbarium will be donated to PSU, and will be an invaluable addition to the collection. The PSU Herbarium contains about 3,000 specimens from his personal herbarium, including a type specimen.

Philip Gaddis (1946-2017), BS (Lewis & Clark College), MS (PSU), PhD (University of Florida). Gaddis was an accomplished botanist, ornithologist, and wetland ecologist. He also served on the HPSU Board of Directors and was a donor and Herbarium Research Associate. The PSU Herbarium contains about 1,200 specimens from his personal herbarium.

Anne Bohlen (1907-2006), BA (University of Nebraska), MS (University of Michigan). Bohlen was an award-winning biology teacher at Portland's Franklin High School. The PSU Herbarium contains about 1,785 specimens of bryophytes collected by Bohlen and others between 1925 and 1947. The collection is a significant source of historical documentation for the bryophyte floras of the upper Midwest, the Great Plains, the Bruce Peninsula of Ontario, and the Portland metro area.

Dorothy McKey-Fender (1916-2018), BA (Linfield University). McKey-Fender was one of many Linfield students who in the 1930s assisted James Macnab (1899-1985) in his pioneering study of old-growth forest on Saddle Bag Mountain in Lincoln County, Oregon (Macnab, J.A. 1958. Ecological Monographs 28: 21-54; Dirks-Edmunds, J.C. 1999. Not Just Trees: The Legacy of a Douglas-fir Forest. Washington State University Press, Pullman). McKey-Fender was expert in several groups of invertebrates, particularly native earthworms of the Pacific Northwest. The PSU Herbarium contains about 150 voucher specimens collected by her from the research site on Saddle Bag Mountain.